InZane Chronicles
by Sencho
Summary: In everyday life, Zane is just another average, boring person among the others. But when Sword Art Online, the first VRMMO, emerges, he becomes a skilled swordsman, fighting to become the best out there. He expects friendship, maybe his first relationship, and the thrills of a new lifestyle. The fun only lasts a few seconds until he realizes, Sword Art Online, is now his prison.
1. Prologue

InZane Chronicles

By Blake Widener

"Dude, this line is taking forever!" the snobby kid behind me cried out. He was waiting, we all were, in line for the newest, greatest video game that was going to innovate the industry forever; the introduction of a virtual reality. The technology had been around for maybe ten years, led by Kayaba Akihiko, but now it was going to be in the hands of us, the gamers. And the first game to come out for the NerveGear, the virtual reality video game system, was Sword Art Online.

I stood anxiously in line, hoping that my preorder would get me a copy. In all honesty, I was just excited to finally get my hands on the game. I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to all this virtual reality stuff. I've been reading up on it since it was invented. It had this mystery behind it and I just felt intrigued. It drew me in. And that was the problem.

One by one each person moved closer to the counter. "Next!" I heard the salesman call out, signaling me to come up to the register.

"Hi there," I said, trying to keep the pitch of my voice from reaching a girly scream due to my excitement.

"Well how's it going, man?" The man looked at me with a rather perky smile. "What can I do ya for? Here to pick up a copy of Sword Art Online?"

"Yeah I am. Oh and I have my beta key number with me." I had been a part of the beta version of Sword Art Online. Beta is part of the development process of a game in which randomly selected people are given early access to the game to give feedback on what needs to be fixed or balanced, although this was done over computer and not over an actual virtual reality system. The benefits of being in the beta process is that when Sword Art Online, or SAO, is released, we all get extras because we helped out.

"Oh! Well aren't ya the special one. I'll be right back with your copy." The man exclaimed as he finished scanning my beta number.

He walked back in with a copy of the game with a silver casing. "Here ya go, lad. Sword Art Online, and when ya get in game, ya'll find a coupon that you can use for extra bonuses. It'll give ya special little upgrades and whatnot. Oh and don't forget ya NerveGear system." He handed me a big box. "That'll be $120."

After I returned home from the shop and the agonizing line, I rushed into my room, ignoring my mother's questions about where I was. I put the box on my bed as I opened up the NerveGear system. I couldn't contain my excitement. My hands were both shaking.

I shoved the empty box of the bed and plugged the NerveGear into my laptop. This was the first time I had actually taken a good look at the thing. It was a helmet, almost like a motorcyclist's helmet, but with a bunch of wires, buttons, and other confusing elements. As I said before, this sort of stuff amazes me. I just had to give it a good observation.

I began to turn the bizarre piece of metal around and around, looking at it from every angle I possibly could. It is equipped with a new generation diamond semiconductor central processor. The NerveGear's high density microwave transceivers can determine what the user's face looks like. The transceivers not only block every transmission from the brain to the body, but also from the body to the brain, thus, while using it, the player is completely insensate to the physical world. A real work of art in my opinion.

Enough gazing, I thought. Just put the disk in your computer, put the helmet on, and let's go already! I put in the disk and it asked me for an identification, a username to go by in game. Oh how I hate coming up with names. Such a real pain in the ass. I sat around staring at the walls, trying to figure up something. I never had a name in beta. It was just BETA057. I guess I hadn't thought of a name yet.

Maybe I'll just use my first name. I input "Zane." Apparently someone had beat me to it and already used that name. Well, bullocks. Maybe my last name? Nope, Agnew was taken as well. And then by some stroke of luck, it just came to me. J-i-n-s-o-k-u. Jinsoku. I had no idea where I got the inspiration for that name, but it just fit perfectly. "Access Granted. Please put on the NerveGear system."

I did as my screen instructed me to do to. I placed the helmet over my head. "My name is Zane Agnew, and I'm entering SAO! Link Start!" And then it began. My prison.


	2. Chapter 1 - Town of New Beginnings

Chapter 1: The Town of New Beginnings

"Welcome to Sword Art Online. We need to know basic information about you to coincide with the facial recognition scan that has been completed. Please answer the following questions." All I could hear was this woman's voice. Completely dark.

"Male or female?" Its voice break the silence of the darkness around me.

"Male."

"Name?"

"Zane Agnew."

"Age?"

"17."

"Thank you, Zane Agnew. We have assigned you with basic clothing and apparel for your avatar. Your avatar will look exactly like you. Thank you for playing Sword Art Online. Would you like to skip the tutorial?"

"Yes," I replied.

Just like that, the darkness began to get filled by a bright light. It kept growing. It became unbearable. I shielded my eyes. And then it vanished. I uncovered my eyes and there I was, in the center of town.

"Wow!" The only words I could bear to manage. It was all so breathtaking. This is real. Virtual reality is real! I began to laugh uncontrollably. It was all so…awesome.

I began to adjust to my surroundings. So many people, scattered all around; shops lined on every edge of the street; a fountain in the middle of what I was guessing was the center of town. I knew where I was; I was in Demascus, the beginning town for all newcomers. A huge grin made its way across my entire face. I was ecstatic.

My moment was cut short as I got knocked to the floor.

"Oh sorry about that, man. In a bit of a rush. You alright though, mate?"

I glanced at the boy as I helped myself up. "Yeah, I'm fine. No harm done."

"I totally didn't see you there. I'm Aldo Sinclair, but I go by 'Sinal.'" He looked as if he were about my age. Maybe slightly older. It appeared that he had brown hair or medium length, he had a rugged face with a sharp jawline, and he had a sort of stature that just sort of towered over me. He was wearing some sort of blue tunic by the looks of it.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Zane Agnew, but you can call me Jinsoku." I exclaimed, my voice once again on the verge of cracking into a girlish squeak.

"Have you just arrived?" He asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Yup. Just got here." I replied.

"Oh well then I might just have to walk you through some of this, won't I?" For some odd reason, he had this smile that just gave you a feeling of trust, that he was a loyal and kind person.

I started to explain, "No not really, I used to be…"

His smile turned into a sudden look of distraught. "The sale!" He grabbed me by the hand and yanked me forward. "I'll have to show you around later. The sale is closing in 3 minutes! Come on, we have to get across town." And just like that, I began to run, following this strange man that I had no knowledge of. For all I know, he could be dangerous.

As we began to run, I finally noticed the interface. The health meter at the top, the energy meter below it, constantly depleting due to our running. The world map in the top left hand corner. The weapon wheel at the bottom right. Empty, of course. I hadn't quite gotten a chance to spend my 500 beginner's credits yet.

"Come on, kid. Watch it now," Sinal yelled as I bumped into him. I hadn't realized we had stopped running. I looked up to see a Beginner's Shop, the perfect place to get the items needed to start your adventure in SAO. "Well we made it with 30 seconds to spare, just about. Come on kid, let's go inside and get us some goodies."

A little bell chimed off as we entered the establishment. We both looked around and saw a very limited amount of stock of basic iron swords, shields, and such. Although, there was a "Sale" sign above all of the items. In fact, it seemed that they had a specific section of bundles containing all the necessary starting items for just 300 credits.

Quickly we both rushed over to the table and each picked out a bundle. He picked out the "Axe Bundle," containing one beginner's two-handed battle axe, a chest plate, and one axe skills, while I picked out the "One-Handed Sword Bundle," containing a simple beginner's sword, a straight black cloak, and 6 very simple sword skills. Although it seems like I got the better deal, the skills that I got with my bundle are about equivalent to his one.

We both walked up to the cashier. "We'll take these please." Sinal said.

The cashier rang up Sinal for 300 credits and then turned to me. "Oh and I also have this." I opened the SAO interface by tapping in midair, showing a drop down menu with options such as "Inventory," "Settings," and "Log Out." I opened up my inventory and showed the lady my beta coupon which had been placed into my inventory as soon as I logged into the game.

The lady gasped. "Oh a beta player. Well then, I'm supposed to give you this." She hands me a pill in a capsule. "These, as you probably know already, are Skat pills. Consume one and you learn a new skill or gain an attribute boost. Although unique skills can be learned through dungeon clearing and killing monsters, we sell basic skills through these capsules here. But for a beta tester, we have a special pill for you. This pill will grant you immediate boosts to all of your attributes: Agility, the ability to move faster and strike swifter; strength, the ability to cut down your enemies with even greater power; wisdom, the ability to learn more skills and adapt to SAO's countless amounts of enemies; Health, the ability to receive more damage and take less bodily harm from weak attacks; and Stealth, the ability to remain undercover from even the most perceptive enemies. You will be better off than any of the other players would at level 1."

"Thanks so much." I reply, immediately consuming the pill. A sudden rush fills my brain. I can feel every part of my body responding to whatever was in that capsule, enhancing me. The feeling only lasts for about 3 seconds before I'm back, staring at the cashier.

"Have a wonderful day," she says as we both walk out the door.

"Dude no way! You were a beta tester?" Sinal is in awe.

"Um…yeah, I guess," I hesitate to get out a response. "I've been a part of this game since the beginning."

"Wow, that's so cool! And I thought I was going to show you the ropes, kid. You got me, fersure." And from then on I knew it. Sinal and I were going to be great friends. He was the first person I met in SAO. We walked around the town for the next hour, just talking. I told him about myself, my home life, how my parents were divorced and how I constantly made up lies to get people to accept me. He told me about how he had been a child who never really had his parents around, was always getting arrested, and whatnot. We seemed to click. I hadn't known him for more than an hour, but here I was, telling him my life story, and he was telling me his. We just trust each other right from the start. Unlike the real world, I had someone to talk to that wouldn't shun me. SAO was proving to be even better than I had expected.

"Well, this tunic is rather rubbish, honestly," he said. "Let's stop by and get us some badass clothes and get you in that cloak of yours, considering we have some leftover credits, and then we'll go out and practice with our new weapons. Whaddya say, bud?"

"That sounds awesome." I don't have a care in the world. This is just the perfect safe haven for me. My own world in which I can be away from the struggles of reality, have friends, and have destructively cool sword fights with monsters and other players.

We arrive at the clothing shop and I get fitted in my cloak. Pure white with a crimson red finishing. It had cuts in the perfect places to allow for free movement. Outlined cuffs, outlined collar, just everything I could have asked for. It appeared to be more, per say, assassin-like than one might expect. The clothing to go underneath wasn't half bad either. A plain white shirt, black pants, a belt, and a pair of solid boots; the only real things I could get for 200 credits. I placed my sheath on my back so I could draw my sword from over my shoulder. I stood, staring into the mirror, accomplished at my appearance.

I turned around to look at Sinal. It seemed for a moment as if the man was completely covered in blue. Blue nylon undershirt, blue pants, blue belt. He was slipping on some black boots over his blue socks. It took me a moment to grasp how threatening the Sinal looked in fitted clothing, seeing his muscles and imagining how strong he is. He slipped on some black gloves and his black chest plate by the time I had come out of my daydream. "How do I look?"

"Dude. You look completely insane! My gosh, you look like you could take a whole town down," I didn't feel a need to hide my excitement anymore from Sinal. "And how do I look?"

"Well kid, you've got the assassin look going on, perfect outfit. The red cloak is definitely a nice touch. And the hood can help keep you unnoticed if you ever need it. Overall, I'll give it a solid seven-out-of-ten."

I'm okay with a seven-out-of-ten, I thought as we left the store. "You ready to go down to meadows?"

"The meadows? Why would we go there? It's full of nothing but boar and other weak animals. I want to fight some actual dungeons or something." Sinal seems to have some great ambition at the very least.

"No, we should go down to the meadow. Take our pills. Learn what we're capable of. Even though I'm a beta tester, I've never played with virtual reality. Ya'know?" I exclaimed.

"Alright, whatever you say, kid." Sinal rolled his eyes. "I mean, you are the beta tester. You know more about this place than I do. Do you mind if I just log out for a minute? I told my friends that I'd tell them something at about 7 o'clock and I think it's getting close."

"Yeah, sure. No problem man. Like ten minutes, I'm guessing?" I don't really want him to go. He's the only friend I have right now. I have no friends in the real world.

He opens up his interface to log out. "Well that's odd."

"What's up?" I'm curious.

"Well…um…the 'Log Out' option isn't there. It's just gone." He stares at me blankly.

"Pssh, whatever. Let me take a look." I open up my interface only to realize he's right. The 'Log Out' option is just gone.

"What the hell? So we can't log out? What are we supposed to do?" Sinal seems rather annoyed. A little bit short-tempered. Best not to set him off with his weapon in hand.

"I don't know…Maybe it's just a glitch. It'll get fixed even…" A loud, ring comes over the entire meadow and a screen appears in the sky.

"What is going on around here?!" Sinal yells.

"Relax. It's just a message from the developer, Kayaba Akihiko. He's probably going to address it right now." I say with confidence in my voice.

"Players. By now, you have probably realized that you cannot log out. If every player would please report to the town center of Demascus. Thank you." The screen on the sky vanished.

"Welp. See? There you go. Did you really think anything was wrong?" I can hear the sarcasm in my own voice. "We'll just go down to town square and this will all just get sorted out." Off we went, both of us puzzled, but still overflowing with excitement. We didn't realize how naive we were for not taking the situation seriously. We can't log out of Sword Art Online.


End file.
